St. John's University Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: St. John's vs. Cal State Northridge
12/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin...
On how Marcus LoVett not playing impacted the game:
"It changed a lot. When you take a starter and one of your best players out of the lineup, it affects rotation and guy's roles. So I thought from that standpoint, a bunch of guys did a good job stepping up and taking a little more responsibility than they have the previous eight games."
On Shamorie Ponds:
"I always felt like his personality off the court is how it is on the court. He's very calm, sometimes too calm and casual, but I think it works to his advantage. He doesn't get overwhelmed. He's got good instincts and trusts them. We put a lot on him for a freshman, but he can handle it."
On the defensive effort:
"Our defense for the most part has been pretty solid [all season]. We've had a few bad halves here and there, but overall pretty solid. We have to back it up by not turning the ball over and getting rebounds."
On what a win like this does for the team:
"That's everything. Just like winning on the road [helps us build confidence]...When it was a two-point game, I thought they did a decent job of making enough free throws, getting enough stops and doing what we needed to do to get a win."
On the offensive flow:
"Our [offensive] flow wasn't really there. We kind of grinded through the game. We never really found a good rhythm. In the first half, we made some threes but we really just kind of grinded it out."
On winning a close game:
"For our young team, [any win] is important. In any sport and life in general, until you prove it to yourself, that's when you take the next step. I think the road win was good and playing tonight without one of our better players [was good]."
Junior Forward Bashir Ahmed...
On the win tonight:
"I think we played hard. We didn't necessarily win the way we wanted to but we still came out with a lot of energy and played hard enough to get this win."
On the tough losses over the last couple of weeks:
"We just learned from those games. We never put our heads down. We just kept working hard in the gym, working on our games and staying focused and really locking in."
On the end of the game:
"We stayed locked in on defense. We didn't want to give up any easy baskets down the stretch because it was such a close game. I think we did a good job at staying locked in on defense."
Freshman Guard Shamorie Ponds...
On playing with Marcus LoVett out:
"I don't think all that much changed. I just tried to be more aggressive and be a leader. I wanted to be more vocal, get all of my teammates involved, and dig out a win."
On the tough losses over the past couple of weeks:
"I think it helped bring us together. Down at Tulane, we really came together as a team and played like a team. We are going to continue to move forward with this momentum."
On breaking the game open:
"We just kept going. We were battling down the stretch and making sure we kept our energy levels high, which helped us grab this win."
Cal State Northridge Head Coach Reggie Theus...
On the game:
"I thought in the first half St. John's made shots. They made shots off one leg or with a hand in the face. They just made shots. Going into halftime only being down four was really good on our guys' part. I thought St. John's was resilient today to hold onto that lead. I felt that we personally made mistakes down the stretch. We had three turnovers when the game was on the line. I liked the effort our guys played with after a tough travel and they battled. These kids gave us a chance to win the game, which is part of our growth. You have to make the plays down the stretch, and we didn't make enough of those plays."
On St. John's getting to the line in the second half:
"St. John's made 10 threes tonight. You can't make up that difference if you only match them with free throws. We're usually seven, eight, nine free throws more than the other team because of how hard we play and hard we go to the rim. But St. John's matched us in free throws."
On Shamorie Ponds:
"He played really well and picked up the slack. He's a tough guard because he can get to the rim but also shoots really deep. He seemed poised. Five assists and only one turnover is poised. I can appreciate the effort he put in with Marcus LoVett not playing tonight. You lose by six on the road, against a BIG EAST team, but for us and for our growth it's a good game for us. I enjoyed watching the way St. John's played tonight. I've known Chris [Mullin] for a long time and Mitch [Richmond] for a long time. It's kind of nice to see what those guys are doing. For a while, I was one of the only guys that was coaching in college that played that long in the NBA. I know the battle that they are going through right now, with a young team trying to figure things out. I think the future is really bright here. I know those two guys know basketball and they have really good people around them."
